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Residents Rights
The rights of retirement village residents are defined in the Retirement Villages Act 2003 and Retirement Villages Code of Practice 2008.
These documents describe the rights of people living in retirement villages and provide a set of guiding principles for how residents are to be treated, including:
- The interests of the resident shall be a primary consideration in all action concerning them,
- There should be respect for their existing capacities,
- They should have a say in all matters affecting them.
It is in the portfolio of the Minister, the Hon Megan Woods. Andrew Crisp has been Chief Executive of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) since December 2018.
The Act is seen to be ‘self-regulating’. The Retirement Commissioner has required a review of various sections of the Act and the disputes process has been researched by her office.
Code of practice 2008
The Code of Practice 2008 sets out further rights and obligations of retirement village operators and residents. It provides a set of minimum requirements that all retirement village operators must comply with.
Provisions in the Code override any less-favourable terms in an Occupation Right Agreement and are enforceable by residents against operators.
Residents Rights Resources
- Click on the links below to view the official documents:
Residents Committees
The Retirement Villages Code of Practice 2008 states;
“Residents have the right to form a residents’ committee and agree their own rules for running the committee.” (Clause 30.1)
To help residents in either the setup or running of a residents committee, the RVResidents (in conjunction with the Retirement Commission), has produced a handbook that is available for download.
Any questions, please feel free to contact us using the form at the bottom of the page.
Donate
Please consider making a one-off donation via our donations page of $10, $25, $50 or you can do a bank deposit – Westpac 03 0389 0004586 05 (Include your Name, Village & Town / City as reference).
Note: Donations received will be set aside for assisting local residents or committees with legal help, or legal challenges at a national level.
Important Information
- call Freephone number 0800 552 002 to make enquiries about New Zealand superannuation or your entitlements as a senior citizen,
- send an email to [email protected]
- send a letter to: Senior Services, Ministry of Social Development, PO Box 5054, Wellington 6145.
Within the Ministry of Social Development is the Office for Seniors, headed by Hon Ayesha Verrall, Minister for Seniors.
Click here Ministry of Social Development’s Senior Services to open a link to view details on the services this ministry can provide.
The website also lists:
- your rights and entitlements as a senior citizen,
- where you can get support.
- contact the Retirement Commissioner Governance Administrator Rebecca Jenner, on 09 356 1447 or,
- email the Retirement Commission at
[email protected]
Care and Assistance
Moving from Retirement Village Unit to Rest Home Care
“Buyers should get this information including terms of transfer for short and long-term rest home care before buying an independent unit in a retirement village”, Troy Churton, former national manager retirement villages, for the Commission for Financial Capability, said.
For the latest CFFC (Commission for Financial Capability) monitoring report on the Provision of Residential Care and Occupation Right Agreements (ORA) by Retirement Village Operators:
Our Sponsors
RVResidents website